We might think we know what drag is all about, but the question is: up to what extent? Drag tends to get confused with gender identity and sexual orientation but once you know the facts, it’s really not that hard to comprehend; you just have to be really open-minded and accepting about our social reality.

What is drag? Generally speaking, drag is the clothing used to dress up as the opposite sex. In my opinion, drag is more than just clothing; it’s an art. It is the process of transforming and performing as a fictional persona, usually of the opposite sex. It is often done for entertainment purposes, usually for comic relief.

Who can do drag? Absolutely anyone can do drag! Cis females and males, straight females and males, transgenders and transsexuals of all sexualities, non-binary individuals… Literally anyone who feels like they have to do something absolutely different, and empowering at the same time, can do drag. After watching Buzzfeed’s videos of men trying drag and women trying drag, all have said that they have experienced something utterly magical and confidence-boosting.

What are drag queens? Drag queens are males who do drag. They dress up as exaggerated females with sometimes crazy hairstyles, overdone make-up (but not any less fabulous), and padding in the front and the back that even challenges Kim Kardashian. It’s really for comedic, dramatic, and satirical effect. Again, they are not transgender women. Dressing up and performing as a woman is not the same as being a woman trapped inside a male body.

What are drag kings? Drag kings on the other hand are women who do drag. They become hyper-masculine characters, sometimes drawing inspiration from male celebrities like Elvis or Pitbull. There’s a lot of hair trimmings that come in use to create mustaches and chest hair, bronzer to recreate the sharp bone structure of a man, and let’s not forget how women bind their chests with duct tape to become flat. Lady Gaga is a good example when she dressed up as Jo Calderone at the MTV Awards.

Why are drag kings not as known as drag queens?When drag queens perform, they are not only being feminine but being feminine to a comedic degree; in other words, mocking femininity. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes people aren’t as comfortable if we turn the tables around. But there has been talk about drag kings appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race, just like how ANTM started accepting men as their contestants.

Drag is definitely an interesting performance art that has been in pop culture for a long time now. That’s exactly why you should get your facts straight before you let common misconceptions of drag confuse you.

In an isolated village in the Dominican Republic back in the 1970s, Dr. Julianne Imperato investigated on some children who were girls at birth but turned into boys once they reached puberty. These children were called guevedoces, which literally translates to "penis at age 12" or machihembras which means "first women, then man." Through further study, they found out that these children were actually male psuedohermaphrodites or children that were born with female primary sex characteristics but later on developed male secondary sex characteristics at puberty. This is just one of the many cases of what we now call as intersex.

No, these are not people who automatically have a vagina and a penis or what we call a hermaphrodite, although they also fall into this category. There are eight variables of gender and 6 of them fall under the biological aspect; namely: chromosomal, gonadal, prenatal hormonal and neonatal brain differentiation, internal organs, external genital appearance, and pubertal hormonal gender; so a person can have either a vagina or a penis yet they can have chromosomes that do not align with their genitals or they can produce more estrogen despite having a penis - the situation varies.

These variables of gender are being used to identify newborns as either male or female, but one thing we have to understand is that there are people who are born as neither male nor female and they fall into the category called intersex. The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) defines intersex as "a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male." Although we do not hear much about this, it is actually more common than we think. A study by Anne Fausto-Sterling, a researcher from Brown University, concluded that 1 in 100 people are being born "whose bodies differ from standard male or female bodies" and approximately 2 in 1,000 people are "receiving surgery to "normalize" their genital appearance," and that is just the people with the physical differences - there are also some cases in which the person does not know they are intersex until adulthood.

Now, why are these people and babies, sometimes unknowingly, being forced to undergo medical procedures to fit in our two sex/gender dominated society? Why aren't we hearing much about this? Children all over the world are getting surgeries before they can even utter a word because how they came out of the womb is deemed unacceptable by societal standards. Gender is actually being measured by the size of a child's clitoris or penis and that is very problematic also because this decision will forever affect the child and how that child will turn out in the future. We have to start acknowledging that in our world, there are more than two genders and sexes. Do not let the doctors and what other people deem as normal compartmentalize human beings as only male or female - there are more than two genders.

During dinner, my father was talking about some story that involved his gay colleague and his boyfriend.

"Really? Tito X did that?" I asked.

Then my mom smirked and said, "You should probably call him Tita X."

This is where I get ticked off. I know that Tito X is just gay and not transgender. So I asked my mom if wore girl clothes and asked people to refer to him as a her. She shook her head and said no. "But he is the female in their relationship," she explained. To cut things short, it ended with my mother saying "Walang pagkakaiba 'yan. It doesn't matter."

I can't really blame her totally. In the Philippines, there is a very blurred line between being gay, transgender, and a cross dresser. This is probably because we only have two terms to describe them, bakla, commonly used for gays, transgender women, and drag queens,or tibo, commonly used for lesbians, transgender men, and female cross dressers. Proposing the reality that there are straight men who participate in drag races to an average Filipino would leave them utterly baffled and in the state of disbelief. Proposing the idea that feminine girls can be lesbians would confuse them. And what about those who are genderfluid?

So when do we use certain pronouns when dealing with members of the LGBT community? Let's make our lives easier by educating ourselves, shall we? Firstly, being gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual are not genders but sexualities, meaning they deal with what type of gender you are attracted to. Gender is whether the person identifies as female, male, or both. It's a lot easier to explain with the diagrams below.

CIS GENDER

When you say you're a cis male or cis female, this means that you identify with the gender you were born with. Gay men can be cis gender and so can lesbians. Pronouns used here would be the same pronouns we're normally accustomed with.

TRANS WOMAN

A trans woman is a woman who was born as a male but identifies as female. What draws the line between a transgender and a transsexual woman is that a transsexual woman has gone under surgery to complete her transition. Drag queens do not fall under the category of trans women because they are a type of entertainer. Straight men or any type of man could play as a drag queen. This goes the same for male cross dressers. To identify a transgender or transsexual woman, you could ask them yourself. But of course not all trans women would be so open. Pronouns used for trans women are she or her.

TRANSGENDER MAN

A trans man is a man who was born as a female but identifies as a male. The difference between a transgender and transsexual man is the same for a transgender and transsexual woman. They should not be confused with masculine women who like to dress in men's clothes or cross dressers. Also they are not just androgynous women. Pronouns used for trans men are he or him.

GENDER FLUID

Gender fluid people can switch from being female to male whenever they want. Their gender identity varies over time and you should just ask them what they want to be called for that day.

NON-BINARY

Non-binary means that some people don't believe they can be just female or male but actually a mixture of both. Commonly used pronouns for non-binary people are them and they. Actually in England, Mx. is a gender honorific that can be used for gender neutrality instead of using Ms. or Mr. It has been slowly gaining acceptance since 2013.(x) Good job, England!

After I did my research, I realized that there are so many other genders besides the ones mentioned. There are pangender (identifies as all genders), trigender (identifies only male, female, and third gender), agender (has no gender) and etc. It's confusing and it will need some getting used to to understand everything. One thing you would learn from all these genders is that it isn't just two options: male or female. It's a spectrum and we have to respect whatever that person identifies as. The first step to openly accepting and respecting that person's gender is by calling them by their proper pronouns. In society, language is such a powerful concept that you have no idea the impact you give when you call a person by their right pronouns.

With the Winter Olympics that took place in Russia, a lot of light has been shed on the gay issue there. Russia isn't exactly the most liberal country out there, that being that it's part of the Orthodox Church and it's growing authoritarianism. Now, their disapproval of homosexuals have gone to several points of violence and even the law. But how bad do they really got it there?

They do not have laws banning non-heterosexual acts completely, however they still have laws that restrict them. One of them is to "protect the younger generation from the effects of homosexual propaganda". This being said, gay couples cannot come out as gay to children. It had come to a point where some couples were threatened to be removed of their adopted kids.

Gay parades are banned in Russia. For 100 years. That's right, not 10, not even half of a century but a full blown century of not being to express your demand to be treated like a human being. Of course, there is the point that this would protect the LGBT community from the outrage they would bring on the streets, but you have to start somewhere right?

Homophobic extremists have killed many gay men due to their beliefs. Many gruesome stories are on the news and internet such as burning, gassing, rape, and et cetera.

With all that negativity being said, let's shed some light on what other countries are trying to do to uplift this social injustice.

Google has placed its doodle for the Sochi Olympics with all the colors of the rainbow, an ongoing symbol for gay pride. Below, the quote reads of how the Olympics should be played without any discrimination.

200 bars in New York have a movement wherein they boycott Russia's vodka supply. They have taken to the streets and poured the vodka out of the bottles. (Okay, slightly a waste of vodka) This is in response to Russia's law on banning non-heterosexual "propaganda".

Just imagine a young boy who just realized that he's gay. Just imagine on how there is almost a country full of people ready to beat and hurt him just because of that. Honestly, it's not like he doesn't have enough shit on his back, he also has to figure out how to not be killed and still be himself.

If there isn't anything more confusing than Basic Calculus, it's sex. I'm not talking about intercourse. I'm talking about gender. And I just committed one of the common misconceptions in today's society. Prepare yourself with a lot of terms and labels that one should never confuse with.

Sex vs. Gender

These two are usually mixed up with each other. Sex is whatever is or isn't dangling from your crotch. It's the biological aspect. But that third option in sex is when you were originally male or female and underwent a sex change, thus becoming a hermaphrodite. Gender however, is how you fit in society's gender roles. But, what is important is how the person identifies his/herself. The person might be born a woman but mentally and psychologically, he identifies himself as a man. Such as the way they dress and their sexuality. This is where you use the term, transgender.

Different Types of Sexuality

Alright, your sexuality can not depend on your gender. You may be born as a masculine female and still like guys or the other way around

Heterosexuality - straight

Homosexuality - gay or lesbian. You must not confuse this with transgender. In Philippine society, many people perceive a gay person to dress up in dresses and wear make-up and flirt around with men a lot. In actuality, anyone you see on the street could be gay or lesbian. It is merely being attracted to the same sex. Nothing more.

Bisexuality - straight and homosexual. Not half. Both. Bi means two. Bisexuals are not confused and just love people in general.

Pansexuality - loves everyone. They love everyone and it doesn't matter whether it's a penis or a vagina or a girl or a boy or whatever. Please don't make fun of them like saying they're attracted to kitchen utensils or trees.

Asexuality - not attracted to anyone. That's it. Please don't press on about it they just don't and it is normal.

The Other Genders

I don't need to discuss the problems of heterosexuality in society because there are none. For the other people with other genders that have existed since the dawn of time, I want to tell you...

... it's normal. Mankind is slowly coming to an understanding that there is nothing wrong with the LGBTQA community. The cause of your homo-bi-pan-asexuality may be from the way your parents brought you up or the environment you grew up in. However, even Wikipedia agrees that no certain factor can cause non-heterosexuality.

I want to say that I am part of this community. Personally, I have never felt any regret, guilt or disgust in my sexual orientation. And I intend to keep it that way. And you should too.